The Lakers made one structural change Wednesday when they decided to part ways with Head athletic trainer Marco Nunez, who had been in the top job since 2016. The team was decimated again this season by injuries to nearly every key player, including the longest injury absence of LeBron James’ 16-year career. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

So they did on Wednesday morning, firing head trainer Marco Nunez, who had been with the organization for a decade and spent the last three seasons overseeing the training staff. The Lakers missed more than 200 appearances due to injury this season, including 148 from the top eight leaders in minutes.

Players largely seemed reluctant to lay blame at the feet of the training staff, saying that injuries are a part of basketball. But with the team line so wrapped up in what went medically wrong, it might have been a losing battle – Ball, who has had two season-ending injuries in his last two seasons, seemed to indicate that the staff was dealing with new developments all the time.

“I feel like they had my best interest,” Ball said. “Certain things just come up later. When I got the MRI (on his ankle), didn’t even see the two bone bruises, got another one and they seen ’em. So I trust them, it (stinks). I can’t really say too much other than that. I don’t like being hurt.”

By noon, Nunez had already been removed from the team website’s list of training staffers.

As in other parts of the organization, it’s unclear what the future of others on the medical staff will be. Some staffers have contracts that expire after the season. Of the training staff, Mike Mancias might be most secure: He arrived with James and directs much of his personal routine.

Lance Stephenson was one of the players who worked closely with Nunez on his sprained toe (missing 14 games this season) who wasn’t happy to hear the news.

“It’s definitely tough, because that was my guy,” he said. “I worked with him a lot. He did an amazing job with me.”

Josh Hart, who was shut down for the season to deal with knee tendinitis, had one of the more passionate defenses of the training staff. He called the Lakers’ ailments “freak accidents” that couldn’t be prevented by traditional means. He pointed to the on-court steps that led to Ball’s and James’ injuries, and the rarity of Ingram’s blood clot. For his own condition, he said he had been dealing with it for some time, but in recent months the symptoms flared up.

“I work day-in and day-out with the medical staff, and they’re people who are amazing at their craft,” he said. “They take their time out their day, even moreso being here early. They’re the ones that sacrifice the most and put the most time in. I guess you can call it an endorsement, but they shouldn’t be knocked or blamed for this because that’s not their fault.”

In exit interviews Wednesday, more Lakers than ever were willing to admit that it wasn’t just injuries that played a role in the shortcomings of the team. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tyson Chandler acknowledged that the trade rumors in January and early February shook the locker room and affected players’ mentalities.

But with Coach Luke Walton, James and Rajon Rondo as some of the prominent voices pointing to injuries as the biggest obstacle, the Lakers had formed their team motto. And changing the leadership to address weaknesses is the way of the NBA.

Caldwell-Pope, the only Laker to play in all 82 games this season, said this year underscored for him how important health is.

“You got to continue to get your treatment and just take care of your body,” he said. “That’s your temple and it’s making you a lot of money. So you got to take care of it.”

Kyle Goon covers the Lakers for the Southern California News Group. Before taking his talents to Los Angeles, he worked for The Salt Lake Tribune for eight years, covering everything from high school rodeo to the Utah Jazz. Gregg Popovich once baptized him by fire in a media scrum.

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